Furuya Rei leaned against the doorframe of Room 144, pondering where Hiromitsu Morofushi might have gone.
The running track? The gymnasium? Or the convenience store? Logically, Hiro should have let me know before heading out...
Could he have sent a text?
He fished his phone out of his pants pocket. Upon opening it, sure enough, there was an unread text from his childhood friend. He had probably been so deeply invested in his argument with that curly-haired bastard just now that he hadn't heard the notification chime.
[Zero, don't worry. I'm going to the nearby supermarket outside the school with my roommate to pick up some ingredients and cook. PS: You were right, my roommate really is Hisano (lol)]
Furuya Rei: "..."
Buddy, are you writing in Japanese?
Setting aside the fact that his roommate was Hisano, it had only been the span of a single argument; why had the relationship between these two progressed so rapidly that they were already grocery shopping together? Or was the Hisano Nozomi who had looked down on the entire world during his speech—offending the freshmen thoroughly with just a few sentences—not the same person Hiromitsu had met?
Though it sounded a bit awful, no matter how he looked at it, the scenario of "Hisano found out Hiromitsu is a good cook and used brute force to coerce him into being his personal chef" seemed far more plausible...
After pacing his thoughts back and forth, Furuya Rei pressed his phone keys and dialed the number directly.
"Hey, Hiro? Are you there?"
"Zero? I just stepped out of the supermarket; I'm on my way back." Since the supermarket was only a street away from the academy, it was just a short walk.
Hearing that his friend didn't sound like he was in any trouble, Furuya's mind eased slightly. "I see."
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing," Furuya Rei said. "I just wanted to ask why you didn't come straight to Room 146 to find me."
"I heard the commotion from you and Student Matsuda. It was quite fierce; I reckon even if I brought two oxen over, I wouldn't have been able to pull you two apart." Hiromitsu laughed. "So, I figured by the time you grew tired of arguing, I'd be just about back."
"Uh, that's true..."
Furuya Rei: The one who knows me best is Hiro.
"I'll be back at the dorm shortly. What about you? You haven't eaten dinner yet, right?"
"Yeah, I'm actually a bit hungry." It was fine until you mentioned it, but now my stomach is growling.
Furuya Rei glanced out at the view beyond the building. The twilight was gradually bleeding across the horizon; night had quietly arrived.
"I bought the pork and ginger you like, along with some celery to stir-fry," Hiromitsu added. "Once Nozomi-kun and I get back, let's have dinner together."
"Nozomi... Nozomi-kun?!"
Furuya Rei was thrilled to hear the first half, but the latter half made everything spiral into pure fantasy.
Hiromitsu! What are you saying, Hiromitsu! Not only did you accompany him to the supermarket, but you're already on a first-name basis?!
What on earth had transpired during the time he was away? A profound sense of crisis washed over Furuya Rei. The friendship boat he shared with Hiro was rocking precariously... No, that wasn't right—a bizarre stowaway had boarded their ship!
Just as he wanted to probe further, he heard Hiromitsu say, "I'm about to cross the traffic light—I'll hang up first and head straight back. Zero, just wait for us at the dorm."
"Okay..."
A dial tone buzzed from the receiver. Furuya Rei leaned against the doorframe and let out a sigh.
After an unknown period, Jinpei Matsuda and Kenji Hagiwara walked over, laughing and joking, their presence exceptionally grating.
"Oh, look who it is—isn't this my wonderful roommate, the rank-one model student Furuya?" The curly-haired youth caught sight of him standing there all by himself and began to mock him with a sarcastic tone. "Oh, that friend of yours... Morofushi-kun, his room should be this one, right?"
Furuya Rei crossed his arms, answering crossly, "What are you trying to say?"
"Nothing, I just feel sad for you." Matsuda shrugged. "A little golden retriever abandoned by his master?"
"Shut up, curly-hair!" Furuya Rei's temples throbbed violently. "Hiro is just..." He just made a new friend, it's not like he cut ties with me!
"Furuya-kun, don't take what Little Jinpei says to heart. Whatever conflicts there are, they'll be resolved later." Kenji Hagiwara gave his childhood friend a disapproving look before offering an invitation, "Haven't eaten yet? Want to join us?"
"No way!" x2
Furuya Rei and Matsuda Jinpei shouted simultaneously: "Otherwise I'll catch the idiot virus!"
"Alright then..." Matsuda scoffed. "Just leave him here to cry in secret. Come on, Hagi, let's head to the cafeteria."
"Hey, hey, Little Jinpei~"
"By the way, Hagi, that roommate of yours seems exceptionally tall?"
"Hmm? Yeah, his name is Wataru Date. He seems like a really nice guy."
"Wow, is he really good at basketball then..."
Having finally filtered the receding gossip of those two out of his ears, Furuya Rei was about to return to his own room to lie down for a bit when he heard the crisp sound of wheels and plastic rustling echoing from the elevator lobby.
The first thing to breach his vision was a swaying, transparent plastic bag. Round potatoes peeked through the gaps, celery leaves bore glistening water droplets, and there was an assortment of fresh meat and condiments—an incredibly complete haul.
"Zero!"
Walking in front, Hiromitsu raised the plastic bag in his hand to greet Furuya. The black-haired youth behind him was also carrying a few bags, muttering listlessly, "So hungry..."
If this were any other time, he would have already fished out ten small cakes from his inventory and stuffed them into his mouth. Furthermore, ever since he completely mastered his teleportation skills, he hadn't walked this much in ages.
Sigh, is this the price of wearing a 'vest' to blend into the police academy?
Hiromitsu pulled out his keys to open the door, gesturing for Zero to come inside while soothing the youth, "Dinner will be ready in just a bit, don't worry."
Furuya Rei stepped into the room, scanning the layout, which was virtually identical to his own. "Then, excuse the intrusion."
While Hiromitsu went to wash the vegetables, the light-brown-haired, handsome young man looked toward the person who had collapsed onto the small sofa the moment he entered. He spoke cautiously, "Student Hisano?"
"Hmm?"
"Hello, I'm Furuya Rei." He leaned slightly against the sofa's armrest, flashing a practiced, polite smile. "I believe this isn't our first time meeting?"
"Aww..."
Satoru Gojo pondered what kind of approach he should use to handle this highly perceptive Zero-kun.
Move him with a tragic backstory? Not quite right.
Be passionately enthusiastic about making friends? Unrealistic.
As expected, it was best to replicate the method he used to harvest impression points from the "model employee" (Gin)—that is, making him angry.
He looked at Furuya Rei's skin, which was darker than wheat, and tilted his head: "Ah, I get it. You're a foreign friend, right? Hi, how are you?"
[Ding! Impression points from plot character Furuya Rei +200...]
Furuya felt like the other guy was tap-dancing directly on his pet peeves. "No, I was born and raised in Japan. I'm just mixed-race."
"Oh, is that so? Then you must spend a lot of time sunbathing?"
"....."
Unwilling to listen to any more of this feigned ignorance, Furuya Rei leaned in close to the youth's cheek and whispered in a low voice, "The person watching me from the gymnasium roof earlier was you, wasn't it? And... during the speech as well."
Satoru Gojo feigned shock. "Who was looking at you? Are you a narcissist?"
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